


A Touch of Mist

by VigilantePond



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Comics), Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Guardians of the Galaxy - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Crack, F/F, Gotg vol 2, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Karen Gillan - Freeform, pom klementieff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-05-19
Packaged: 2018-11-02 11:19:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10943436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VigilantePond/pseuds/VigilantePond
Summary: Mantis and Nebula are drawn to each other, and Nebula is full of mixed emotions and cloudy feelings. What happens when Mantis reads Nebula's emotions?





	A Touch of Mist

Nebula was never really one for love. In fact, the closest thing that she had ever been exposed to was hate; Nebula liked to measure her feelings towards people based on a scale of how much she hated them. She knew that she hated her sister Gamora the least, out of all their siblings; however, she despised all of her sister’s friends. Every single one of them.

 

Suddenly, her stomach twisted as if her intestines had tied themselves into a tight knot and let out an empty growl. Nebula spat as she trudged around Ego’s planet, in search for some food and bitterly mumbling something which sounded like “It wasn’t ripe.” She was grateful that Thanos didn’t rip her stomach out of her body and replace it with a cybernetic counterpart, but on second thought maybe a robotic digestive system wouldn’t be so arduous. 

 

As she turned around the corner, Nebula crashed into another figure, who let out a shrill  _ Eep _ ! It was Mantis, the odd creature that followed Ego around everywhere. There was something about Mantis that drew Nebula to her, even though she did not want to admit that she was intrigued by another lifeform in the galaxy. Back at the cheesy little campfire, she observed the antennaed newcomer with fascination. Nebula had never seen anybody laugh as hard as Mantis, and her innocence was so ridiculous to her; she had never met anybody so... pure. To Nebula, it was so terrible that it could almost be considered good. She had decided that she didn't hate her that much. Although, one thing was for sure; they were polar opposites. Nebula was subconsciously staring into Mantis’ wide, inky eyes which were always beaming with wonder. It reminded her of a black hole which she saw while riding on her spaceship to find the Gardens of the Galaxy. (Guardians, whatever. Nebula didn’t know the difference, nor did she care.) She was once again drawn to the black hole, which distracted her and tempted her to stray from the path. 

 

“I am Mantis,” she announced with a childish grin, and snapped Nebula out of her daze.

 

“I know,” Nebula scowled, and tried to push past Mantis. 

 

“Can I touch you?” Mantis giggled, raising her palm awkwardly. 

 

“What?” Nebula snarled, as her new Ravager hand flew to her gun holster instinctively. 

 

“When I touch someone, I can feel their emotions,” she explained. 

 

Nebula growled,“I don’t have emotions.” Most of the time, she felt like a blank abyss of nothing. All her fury, anger, and loathing which had accumulated from childhood to now had simmered into a numbing feeling of nothing, like burnt trees turned into ashes. 

 

“Everyone has emotions!” Mantis exclaimed.

 

“I don’t,” she persisted. Before Mantis could protest, Nebula shoved her non-cybernetic arm at her, to prove her point. 

 

//

 

Mantis used to avoid being in the same place as Nebula; the cyborg’s permanent grimaces quickened the pace of her heart each time. Everything in the vast galaxy was so captivating, and Mantis was eager to learn about it all. So, she observed the crew while Ego slept, and tried to understand them. Nebula always stuck out from the rest of the dysfunctional gang; she never laughed with them, talked with them, and stood alone on the side. Slowly, this made her seem increasingly riveting. Mantis tentatively placed her palm onto Nebula’s steel blue arm, as she had done before numerous times. 

Usually when Mantis used her power, the process was swift. She would feel the bursts of  emotional energy transferring from the other person’s skin to her fingertips, which triggered a tingling feeling in her antennae. With Nebula, the message was muddled, like a thick smog preventing celestial bodies to shine through. That’s exactly what a nebula was; a cloud of gas which was indistinctively bright, or a dark silhouette against the empty space. Mantis gasped as she felt a flame slowly burning, and it rapidly spread into a turbulent inferno. She let out a cry as the fire flickered into an electric storm, like the lightning that she had seen on another planet. It repeatedly struck all around her body, like repeated knife stabs to an open wound. All of a sudden, she sensed a flood of light as bright as the Sovereign’s suns wash through, bringing the familiar feeling of euphoria. 

 

Nebula pulled her arm back defensively. “See? I told you there was nothing.” 

 

Mantis shook her head slowly, trying to process what she had just felt. There were so many emotions at once, all attempting to overshadow one another, the way a star fleet races to beat the others. “I felt… anger, pain, and, and….” she struggled to identify the last emotion. “Love.. romantic love… for… for... “

 

Nebula turned away and snapped,“Stop it, shut up.”

 

“...For me.” 


End file.
